SAMCOOK Kiritsuke Chef Knife - 8 Inch Professional Sharp Damascus Knife - Japanese VG-10 High Carbon Stainless Steel Kitchen Gyuto knife - Ergonomic Octagonal Ebony Handle with Gift Box

Pros:1. Great blade shape, length, and height2. Authentic eastern style handle with authentic blade weight balance (Black Sandalwood handle)3. Great value for the priceCons:1. It came somewhat dull, which required some after market sharpening (easy to fix)2. I'm not a huge fan of the mirror finish (cosmetic)3. The damascus etching seems a bit fake (cosmetic)With a tiny bit of sharpening this knife performs extremely well.Even though it's made in China, I would recommend this knife to anyone looking to get into using Japanese style knives and learning how to sharpen their own knives. It's insane (good) value for the price you pay. It's a good knife for anyone to learn on or use for everyday cooking and it's very affordable to replace if it was ever somehow stolen or broken beyond repair.---I don't know if it's actually VG-10, it doesn't have the same feel as my other VG-10 knives exactly but this knife does perform very well.This knife is extremely good at this price point. I bought one with an octagonal handle (Black Sandalwood) since it's the only one that seemed like a half-tang knife.The knife is balanced very well.The one I bought is blade-weighted meaning that the fulcrum is slightly more to the blade end. This is very good for when you use a pinch-grip with your thumb and finger on the sides of the blade and this is exactly the type of balance I would expect from a blade of this design.In comparison, most of the "Japanese" budget knives I've seen on amazon that look nice don't have the same balance as this one.The profile and shape of the knife is great. It's got a good height to it which I like a lot since my fingers are a bit long and have trouble fitting comfortably on more shallow knives.SharpnessThe blade was not very sharp out of the box, to my standards. To be clear I like my knives to be hair shaving razor sharp. Out of the box this knife bounced off of tomato skin, meaning that it wasn't able to cut through tomatoes super easily.To fix this I gave it a few passes on my 1,000 and 5,000 grit whetstones and a leather strop. It's now hair shaving razor sharp and performs extremely well, even when compared to my higher end knives in the $100-300 price range.

Excellent for the price. Very comfy knife that comes well finished and the edges on the spine and choil came deburred. No issues with cutting through dense stuff and has a lot of leverage for cutting in multiple grips and at multiple angles. Draw cuts, push cuts, chopping, work very well because the cutting geometry is pretty well done. This knife is definitely is one of the best knives I have gotten from Amazon, especially at this price. Only thing I would change is bring the tip taper geometry a little bit further back, otherwise, this is a solid knife that I would have no issues bringing with me into the professional kitchen. The Damascus pattern is faint but visible. Sharpening bevels are a tiny bit uneven at the tip and heel of the knife.To summarize, having used, studied, collected a lot of knives both cheap and expensive, as well as making my own, this is an extremely good purchase especially the for the price and even a bit higher! I have not had a chance to really test edge retention yet at work, but with all the other stuff, it should have no issues especially with what I have seen when cutting stuff at home.Do I recommend this knife? Yes, both to the home cooks as well as those who work in the craziness that is the professional kitchen! This also would be a good one if you want to try a slightly downward pointed handle. It's really nice on crosscuts where the knife is parallel to the cutting board and gives good leverage. Grip is pretty good, but could be a bit slick since the handle is a bit more polished.Hope this helps!Sincerely,JS

VERY SHARP. It's not just about appearance with this knife. I didn't expect it to slice straight through the Amazon packaging like that. That's good quality sharpness. Although, I'm aware that you can just buy a knife sharpener for knives, this knife itself boasts very precise sharpness right out of the package! No need to pre-sharpen the knife itself for the next week or two. So it's ready to chop at a much more accurate precision and degree without needing a pre-sharpen first.I am very impressed with the construction of the handle itself, it has a nice smooth feel and weight to it as you hold it. I can feel comfortability while slicing vegetables or meats with this knife.I don't know how long this will last but I'm hoping that it can outlast quite a while. It looks like it's a high grade knife for a reasonable price.

So I was browsing Amazon to look for a back-up knife for other people in my house to use and not mess up my high end knives. Then I came across this knife by Sam Cook. It looked way too good to be true since the blade material is well known, the shape of the blade is desired, the handle style is on higher end knives, and the price being under $40. Who else wouldn't be skeptical of a product like this? I decided to take the risk and buy it. If I don't like it, it's only $35.All I can say is that this is a damn good knife for the money. It looks amazing and came pretty sharp. With a closer look, I notice that there are small imperfections like you can feel the metal decoration stuck out ever so slightly on the handle and that it looks like the Damascus is etched on but I'm not sure on that. It's a burner knife for $35 so it doesn't bother me. I don't believe the blade material is vg10. I like to re-sharpen new knives I get to make them wicked sharp. The ease of sharpening let's me know the material is softer than my other vg10 knives, but oh boy it took a nice edge.In summary, if you are looking for a good knife to explore your culinary talents without breaking the budget, any knife from these samcook guys will do it for you. I literally ordered another 2, the big bob kramer clone and this one, to keep for myself. Definitely a good buy in my opinion.